Emergency
by Bloody Priestess
Summary: -COMPLETE- Rei Otohata made a vow — he was to become a doctor and save lives. He did just that... when he saved the one most important to him... himself.
1. Before I Forget

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**NOTICE**_**:**_

Update: January 20, 2009

AN: There _will_ be a **chapter four** for this fan fic! I am currently writing it. Please bear with me. I cannot say when it will be finished, it all depends on time I can squeeze in for fic-writing! Thank you.

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**A GALS! Fan Fiction**

"**Emergency"**

**By Bloody Priestess**

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Summary: Find out what made the resident Mr. Cold and Heartless chose this rather NOBLE profession that's so UNlike him. Rei Otohata made a vow — he was to become a doctor and save lives. He did just that... when he saved the one most important to him...

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Disclaimer: Everything in here (but the plot and some insignificant OC) belongs to someone else but me. Did that make sense? Anyway, I am not a Medical student (a nurse, pre-med, whatever) I can not (and _will _not) guarantee a 100 percent accuracy on the technical whatchamacalits. Besides, I intend to make this fic really layman-friendly.

_Emergency_ is a song by the band: _**Paramore**_**. **_Before I Forget_ is a song by the band: _**Slipknot**_**. **I'd also like to acknowledge my good friend—_**iceblueyes**_ for helping me out with the fic's title. And credit the brilliant, late **Sidney Sheldon **and his novel, _Nothing Lasts Forever_ which has become somewhat a reference for some of the technical stuff used in this chapter—you see, I was reading this book before I fell asleep and dreamed _this_ up. It figures, right?_ :)_

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Author's Notes:

_**(1)**_ What started as a _one-shot _is now a 'regular' story composed of chapter_**s**_. This is to avoid eye-stain from staying too long in front of the computer's screen. (My optometrist will kill me, its bad for _his_ business, you see…)

_**(2)**_ This is **not** a SONG FIC. And although lyrics of certain songs have been mentioned; the lyrics are used more like reflections of the characters.

_**(3)**_ The idea for this story first came to me in the oddest manner. _How_? You ask me. This came to be in a dream, a nightmare, whatever you call it. Anyway, the anxiety brought about this, plagued me all day and I found myself distracted to oblivion and back. And like any stressor I come across, I dealt with it by writing ...and _Voilà_! A fic loosely based on it, is the end result. I hope this will do. :)

I guess... I should dedicate this story—

_**To all who loved and lost**_** and to **_**all who lost and yet, loved again**_…

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**Chapter One**: Before I Forget

It was like waking up _from_ a dream…

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He made a vow to himself—he was to become a doctor and save lives. He did just that.

And she was _the_ witness to what he accomplished.

His icy blue eyes were fixed upon an inanimate piece of gravel sticking out of the grassy ground as he fell into the throes of a memory.

A playfully gentle breeze fondly messed his neatly styled dark mane that draped a rather bleak shadow over his unfathomable expression. The years he spent in hell (which was the general population called _medical school_) were kind to him. For he still had that calm, impassive and rather aloof, handsome face he was very known for back in high school.

The memory unfolded like a yellowing letter. It's now brittle with age, and stiff from being unread after all these years… But somehow, standing right on this very spot— He remembered that trying day when he came so close to breaking that promise _as if_ it happened yesterday…

'It was like waking up _from_ a dream—where all you have is the ruthlessness of reality. A reality that is heedless to what you dream and idealized yourself to be and to have.' He thought glumly.

Reality taught him to be hard and jaded. It taught him in one way or another to lie (lied by twisting and telling _half_ truths), cheat (cheat a patient out his natural freedom to scream out hysterical distress), steal (steal the sole God power to take a life and save)... in a word, _professional._

That, he surmised, entailed one to be unemotional. And for the most part, detached. All of which were contrary to what he wanted: to change.

Rei tried to change and better his self —to change and be better than what he was back in high school. That was one of the significant reason to why he chose _this _profession. He wanted to change for the better, dammit. _And yet, what I am now_... Rei inwardly scoffed at the irony. What he is now was hardly what one was supposed to be if one wished to become a doctor, one who has the heart and desire to heal and save.

_They should have called me a butcher instead of "Doctor"._

_"I guess... C'est la vie."_ A realistic part of him sighed resignedly. However...

_Bullshit_, some enduring optimistic part of him thought, Life _should_ not be like that. This was not he had in mind when he made the choice to become a doctor. But reality was more forthright and cruel_er_ to they who have _dreams_ and aspirations.

Some one like _him_— Rei Otohata.

Oh yes, he recalled the day _very _well…

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Rei believed himself to be an earnest individual... Well, that _was_ true. When he first started his first year residency in the prestigious Tokyo Medical Hospital, a large non-profit hospital three years ago, right after he passed his licensure exam; he _has _always been so.

At only 22 years old, after graduating B.S. Biology, he entered medical school. The first two years of med school which were either spent memorizing long lists of medical terminology and processes or spent in the laboratory examining cadavers. And the later half of the four-year course was spent dealing with live patients under the watchful eye of medical instructors and qualified doctors, usually doing the dog's end of the work—filing, handing things over (pen, charts, et cetera) like some menial personal assistant rather than a prospective colleague.

At 26, He was _still _very eager enough to begin his residency. He thought the worst has passed. He thought that he was finally able to put all that he learned and trained in medical school and during his internship to practice. _Fresh_men always had stars in their eyes and a dream that burned and tucked underneath their feet propelled them up like a comet in the sky. Ready, eager and idealistic— just when he first thought he had matured and well-settled all the crappy things back in medical school —he had to be put through an ordeal that shocked and uprooted all that he fostered all his life.

The despair of an optimist insistently cut up, had reshaped him into some_thing_ he is NOT: _An optimistic idealist shaped to a cynical realist_. And so, for the first time since graduating from high school... Rei was suddenly at a loss _again_.

But he decided to shove the mar to the back of his mind. And from then on— everything after that occurred like clockwork. Similarly, he moved like he was a piece of machinery— _more_ detached than ever. After what he had seen, done and saw being done stripped him of his passion and heart for the lifetime vocation he pledged himself to.

The vocation that was supposed to change him from the heartless prat he had been known for to _something more_. A something that possessed had a real, functioning heart.

Where was the love and passion for the job? He was slowly robbed of that... And yet despite the loss that was supposed to kill him, he was just _fine_. Rei realized. And it was the latter that irritated him the most. For he considered that he betrayed himself for ever permitting himself to _compromise_ —to 'follow' procedure — to succumb to such a low (but _they_ called it a "_standard_"). He severely assessed that he was NOT man enough to fight for what he held dear.

And then came this one seemingly ordinary afternoon:

It was rather breezy late summer day on his third year residency, he was detached from the rest of the world in the most literal and figurative sense of the word. The hospital's confines was only world that seemed to matter. His schedule was a grueling 36 hour shift—from 6:00am to 12:00 noon the day after next.

His day had begun quite routinely. After checking in, he depleted the first half of the morning alongside an attending physician (Dr. Jiro Haryumo) in the doctor's _hospital rounds_ in an effort to learn the ropes of this whole healing business along with five other residents (most of them were from _other_ med schools in the country).

Dr. Haryumo was in the lead of the group, followed by the senior resident—Dr. Mistuhara Hidaka, then by Rei and the five other residents and joined in the company of other equally aspiring doctors—medical students. Each were expected to make observations and gain experience through the fondling of countless medical-scientific gadgets and constant analysis of ambiguous charts that warrants one's patients continued existence long after they leave their hospital beds. They will take down notes while the head and attending physician made check-up rounds in the recovering patients ward.

"Code Red… ER two…"

_Code Red _was a code that meant a major type of emergency—The lot of them was off in a shot when the hospitals P.A. systems requested the immediate presence of _all_ the able bodied doctors to Emergency Room number two.

By the time second repetition of the announcement was being vocalized, they were already half-way through the recovery wing to the service elevators. From behind their desks, the nurses cannot help but be drawn to the tall, dark haired resident as the group passed. They covertly watched Rei merely lengthened his already-long stride whereas the rest practically jogged just to keep up.

Whitewashed halls, the lingering smell of sanitation and closed private room doors passed his line of vision. As soon as the final intern just about leaped into the closing elevator doors, Dr. Haryumo began his prepared monologue about how they needed to prove themselves to him.

That they—the lowly residents, are to be tested on just how they well they toil under the strain of pressure of a real life crisis that the hospital environment. True enough, they finished med school, passed the licensure examinations and were styled, "Dr. So-and-So, or with an M.D. after their names." But it was a fact, that none of them had much experience in the real situation.

Rei thought to himself, how much they have been overly underestimated. With his tightly fisted hands determinedly kept to his sides, he realized that he was talking only for himself. He hated when he does that. He basically hated anything self-important sounding. To him, _self_-importance is a filthy, unforgivable thing—it was something he no longer deserved to feel.

What seemed like an endless stream of long, busy, and endless corridors later, Rei and the rest of the team burst though the double-swinging doors and into this sad little realm of pain, suffering, struggle and death—the hospital's emergency room. The _ER_.

Hell awaited beyond those doors that were swiftly swinging to a stop. And it lay before them… _just_ for them.

"Timely… you fellas look equal to angels in those white hospital coats. _Get rid of them_. Scrub-up. Save them."

The residents were instantly whisked away by nurses and hastily geared into the hospitals vivid-green colored scrubs and removed from the white gowns they were made to wear during their rounds.

Whilst the quicken pace, the nurses and first-to-arrive doctors stated something about a shoot-out between the local police force and a fleeing horde of bank robbers that occurred in the city's crowded downtown district which apparently caused this outpouring of gunshot victims.

Rei tuned out the chatter as he concentrated on his current patient—the third one he treated from the moment he stepped into the ER.

Refusing to allow the gruesome cry of pain to get to him, he gritted his teeth and set his jaw. "This is just like med school, Otohata." He repeated over and over as he did the final stitches on an elderly police officer's bullet-pierced shoulder. And the rest followed like a mantra from a textbook he had to memorize by heart—oops, he had no heart— with his head then… _Secure the knot, cut the excess_… "Easy, sir—you'll be alright." He said soothingly as he was _taught _and there was no further feeling _beyond_ that overused, routine statement.

"Nurse," the girl beside him bolted upright as an inexperienced first year still-in-college intern markedly would, "Clean that up and put that arm into a sling after bandaging, _stat_."

Rei was right in the middle of a bizarre branch of hell, yet all this was especially familiar to him now… it seemed like _home_. Peculiar, to say that hell was _his_ home.

"_Doctor_?" a second nurse with a name plate that read: _Ayumu Shimizu, R.N._ (AN: R.N. – registered nurse) said breathlessly as she appeared behind the parted curtains to where Rei was working. "Are you _the_ doctor planning to go into _general surgery_ who is assigned with Dr. Gregory McCauley's team?"

When Rei nodded, she beamed. Rei surmised that she was such in a state of alarm that she could not remember who she was sent to fetch. "You're needed immediately... Dr. Haryuno is already in the OR, the patient is en route there. He specifically requests that _you_ join him..."

"Alright. Which OR?" Rei said to the newcomer not bothering to correct her false impression, _he was still a junior resident…_ But not entirely incompetent, a confident part of him averred. But certain rules and procedures—that includes, _labels_—must be strictly observed to maintain a sense of order, routine and professionalism.

"Operating room one, doctor," she replied. And with that Rei set off before Nurse Shimizu could say anything more.

"Sir—?" Rei queried upon arriving in OR one.

"Otohata? Good," Haryumo's voice was muffled by the surgical mask he had on, "Scrub up again. Then, come over h—"

"Dr. Haryumo! Dr. Hidaka!" another anxious intern burst in. "You are needed in OR three— the Chief Justice is going into cardiac arrest! Please, he might not make it this time around. _Please_, doctors."

OR one burst open for the third time and in came the patient on the gurney. Rei immediately took notice of the patient's bloody policeman uniform as he was carted past him. The patient lay still as death already had his hand on the poor soul. He was painstakingly unconscious, even as he was transferred unto the operating table by two paramedics. While the third paramedic pushed the gurney the policeman was brought in out of Rei's way, the young doctor was already doing a quick yet effiecient initial assessment of the new patient from where he stood.

"_Damn_." Dr. Haryumo muttered, "Otohata, you take care of this, I know you'll do McCauley and I proud. Let's move, Hidaka." And they were gone.

Dr. Gregory McCauley was one the brilliant heart surgeon from the United States. McCauley was spending his sabbatical volunteering in-between hospitals in Japan after his favorite niece suffered a vehicular accident and was sucessfully operated in a Japanese hospital. And Tokyo Medical had him four days a week! Instead of the usual two or one day he spends in Tokyo General Hospital and other rival hospitals. And during precious four those days, he took under his wing and tutelage the crème de la crème of Tokyo Medical's staff.

Ice blue eyes surveyed the room. All those who remained OR one were the already assembled— an anesthesiologist, a resident (Rei remembered to be his junior), a medical technician, a scrub nurse and two circulating nurse."

Rei assumed command, eyes hard and seemed to be much older than the owner's mere 29 years of age. "Prepare the equipment. Prepare the patient for surgery." he instructed the rest of them. "What is the patient's current condition, nurse?"

The heart/respiration monitor beeped feebly as it was finally attached to the patient. _Why the man's barely hanging on_.

"…this one has multiple lacerations, but most importantly has taken a bullet to the torso— hemorrhaging terribly en route to the hospital." Someone was saying as a nurse came forward was shaking badly as she dressed Rei in his new set of clean mask and the rest of his surgery gear. "We're practically rummaging through the blood bank as we speak, doctor—this one's a blood-type AB. AB _negative _to boot."

Personally, Rei detested the prospect of blood—and all that it represented. But these '_needy_' people looked up to him as a beacon of hope and life. He was once told, "In addition to medicine, you must also prescribe _hope_." And, yet the upsetting part was the fact that he couldn't remember who shared that particular piece of counsel… All he recalled was it _never_ came from any of his clinical instructors but from someone dear and near to him, could it be —

"_Doctor?_"

His lengthy pace, as he moved around the room in preparation, ceased with noticeably unnecessary annoyance as he turned to face the nurse. "Don't dally! Send someone to retrieve at least four units of it after cross-matching the patient and donor's blood. And for God sakes, _hurry_! We're trying to save a life here!"

Dr. Otohata reached for the victim's stained uniform and began to shear the clothing for a better access to the wound. Despite his training, that should have accustomed him to naked forms. Rei could not help it— He was still a _man_. He reasoned as he flushed bright pink with the sight of the patients beautifully shaped breasts, a superbly lean and shapely torso and smooth skin. He recomposed himself with a discreet, rather self-conscious cough. And keeping his tone abruptly methodical and detached (which was not hard to do), he said to all with in an earshot, "We need to extract the bullet, prepare for an operation then a blood transfusion, and hustle people! She's already lost a great deal of blood. Somebody go and double check—she's an AB."

"Don't leave, miss." He soothed the patient, "Don't stop holding on, miss—_er_."

"What is her name?" Rei asked a resident to check the patient's identification card. It one of the many procedures taught. They needed to able to 'connect' with patient. Its intention was to have the patients to know someone was with them in such time of physical, emotional and possibly, psychological ordeal. He needed to call them by their name and keep them back into the realm of the living.

"Shibuya Precinct Officer, _Ran Kotobuki_." someone said.

The scalpels handed to Rei clashed to the bloodstained tiled floor.

And as if a foreign entity took over his body, Rei seized the blood-soaked bandages — that have been used to put pressure on the wound to minimize the flow of blood— of which were set in chaotic disarray over the patient's torso and face when the nurse hurriedly (and quite untidily) readied the victim for the imperative operation. It took a second or two before her all-too familiar appearance registered a memory into his unbelieving mind.

He pulled the plastic cap off the patient's head. Her long, softly wavy hair still shone in that unmistakable flame-red color and that infamous scarlet streak was still in her long bangs, her eyes were lovely lidded and framed with heavy curling fringe of eyelash, and her mouth was slight parted as if waiting for a prince's kiss. _His_ kiss, perhaps? Rei almost thought he was in dream. For he had an abundance of dreams just like this…

_**No**__, this is no damn dream_— The violence was unmistakable once the rose-tinted glasses were finally removed from his eyes as he looked clos_er_. Her hair was really streaked but not with hair-dye—but with her own _blood_. There was a bluish-purple bruise just under her left eye and a raw cut on her lower lip. As he continued to look, she continued to flush out blood from her bullet wound. But, thanks the heavens that head wound was only a superficial.

Rei set his jaw, in retaliation to the searing stab his patien—_no_, his _**friend**_'s circumstance brought upon his senses.

He hadn't seen her in years but he still considered her a friend. Regardless of what people say, he too intensely cared for the friendships he formed. She was a friend of his—she was the closest thing to what the populace would call a 'girlfriend'. Although it was never came to a point where they were officially called so, he really did love her ...and (though her definition _may _vary from his) she loved him.

Rei was quite taken aback. After all these years, she still had that similar deliciously aching effect on him.

Cursing under his breath for the having all these _in_appropriate thoughts at _this_ extremely ill opportune moment, he began this practiced procedure of extracting a foreign object from a human body. His expertise of the routine —that was drilled into his being from day one of his time in med school — took over his prior qualms and directed his hands into skilled and efficient movements.

And then he realized that all the things he had to give up —forcefully or willingly— was worth it. He _is_ a doctor, he knew what to do— he _can_ save her. He _will_ save her. It was in his hands now.

_It was very typical of her. To remind me before I forget. _Rei thought wryly but at the same time, glad. "Let's begin." He said, enthusiastic for the first time in years...

_Finally_.

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**End of Chapter One**

To be continued…

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Author's Notes: _**(1)**_ The last line in the song is somewhat a forewarning of sorts... what do I mean? '**Read On**', I tell you. :)

_**(2)**_ Please do **REVIEW**. I would greatly appreciate anything you _care_ to share with me (please be specific so that I'll know where to look and edit)—your insights, your corrections, your comments, your 'hello'/review will _more_ than do…

Thank you.

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	2. Dead Memories

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**A GALS! Fan Fiction**

"**Emergency"**

**By Bloody Priestess**

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Summary: Find out what made the resident Mr. Cold and Heartless chose this rather NOBLE profession that's so UNlike him. Rei Otohata made a vow — he was to become a doctor and save lives. He did just that... when he saved the one most important to him...

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Disclaimer: I do not the song "_Dead Memories_" and _GALS_! I am dealing with it, as you can see. I am writing this story, right? This is my compensation… something, _I_ can claim for my own. :)

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Author's Notes: For the record—the lyrics are in **bold** and the thoughts are _italized_. Yes, I do realize that it's pretty odd to have pulled this angsty fic out of an anime that's so fun, light and zany. Hehe… Regardless, here it is!

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**Chapter Two**: Dead Memories

It was like waking up _from _a nightmare...

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The operation took almost two hours— Rei extracted the bullet that (thankfully) missed any vital organs and sew her right back up before sending her to a private recovery room. Relief crushed over his mind, body and soul—it was like waking up from a nightmare. It was a welcomed and relished feeling.

Ran Kotobuki's operation was a success! "Thank God for that AB negative donor." A circulating nurse said warmly.

"_No_," another, the one to Rei's immediate left gushed, "Thanks _to_ Dr. Otohata's skill! Why, under Dr. McCauley's wing it's no surprise!"

"Well done, doctor."

"Excellent job, sir."

Rei shrugged uncomfortably, turning on his heel and heading for the wash area to remove his bloody surgical gloves. Praise was something he'll never get used to. For most of his life—there has _never _been a kind word, a compliment, a praise that was _not_ followed by another polite and often automatic response. He thought as he proceeded to methodically wash his hands in a long-established routine.

Decorum entailed that one should return volley that compliment with another and so on, that the compliment becomes impersonal and _in_sincere. Such that, _any_ display of 'good manners' that has been equated as something of a cautionary bell in Rei's interpretation— It made him wary, for he knew and was aware that a hidden, self-serving agenda lurked behind it.

His early days of being treated less than his true worth during his med student and internship days, did not deter his vigorous aspiration to become what he vowed to become. He reasoned. But slowly it did take a toll on his outlook to life and people's true motives. Outwardly, he remained the same (calm and aloof). But the cut was devastatingly deep and severe.

Dr. Otohata cast an eye on Ran's serene face before hastening back to the ER to attend to _other_ matters and _other_ responsibilities. It was his job—he must go… _If_ his heart still weighed more—he would have dammed all the rest and would have stayed with her until she awaken.

But his heart meant nothing to his hard-bitten world. He learned and settled the matter long time ago. He compromised... and he was no happi_er_.

He had become _more_ cynical, oh yes. Life taught him to be cool, realistic and jaded... if he wanted to survive, that is. It taught him to guard his heart from people who were only after to better themselves, and in the rare occasion that people do the complete opposite—don't count on them, for they're as rare as unclaimed diamonds in the middle of a busy expressway of a third world country.

It was rather difficult to melt with sweetness when you have already been frozen with bitterness. Rei had the world to blame—and of course, himself. For it was because it was he, himself who allowed all those nasty situations to get to him—if he never allowed himself to compromise—if he never allowed himself to LIVE... he had done otherwise, when he chose to _survive_.

There were loads of instances where he thought that he should have opted to die than to have allowed himself to be brought to such a low.

But like he said, he chose to _live_.

And so, his ideals had to _die_.

Rei Otohata graduated from med school with flying colors. But for every hue that painted his horizons of becoming a brilliant doctor that day was equivalent to every unrelenting, sharp talons that anchored the 'undesired' piece of him to remain in the filth and dirt. Consequently, when _Dr._ Otohata soared, the idealistic, passionate young Rei Otohata was ripped off and left to rot on the ground.

_There was no place for that _now. Rei thought, letting the matter rest even though it meant never having closure on the subject. He rationalized. How could he begin to explain that he has been jaded so thoroughly that he could not tell if an idealistic teenager that he was existed. _Damn this cruel, heartless, cynical world!_

Hours trickled by…The rest of that afternoon was spent attending to the incoming patients. He was still on call— At sometime after seven that evening when he was supposed to have his powernap, he said to himself, "To the hell with getting a bit of shut-eye! What's another eight hours straight of staying wide-wake anyway? Besides, coffee helps." Repeating an age-old med-students' mantra.

And with that, Rei cast his shadow on Ran's closed private quarters. She had no visitors since she was wheeled into this room.

_Even in her time of need... she was alone. _With a cynical twist in his lips, he wondered: Where were all her _numerous_ friends? '_Busy with lives of their own_', came the blunt answer.

_Damn it_, even her parents were away. Apparently her sister Sayo was starting her college freshman year and was moving in to her university's dorm. And Mr. and Mrs. Kotobuki were with the younger daughter to help her settle in. And Yamato, her older brother—now a police inspector— was out in the field. Rei should know— He _personally_ called her relations… and still, _nothing_.

The door handle to Ran Kotobuki's private room turned easily in his hands. It was very odd, Rei mused bittersweetly, as the door swung open to a lamp-lit room. That he entered the same room Ran was in that was _devoid_ of shouting (or some form of loud noise) and a flurry-blurry rapid movements c/o the said young lady.

"God, I never thought I would miss that!" he smiled bittersweetly. "Well, I never thought I would get around and even _say_ that. You were never the sort to change so easily, Ran. And I bet, you never imaged that this violence would be done to _YOU_."

Ran lay on her hospital bed, still and blissfully riding out a drug-induced coma—the very one that was to her speedy ride to recovery. She looked loads better than when he last saw her in the ER—but then again... she could be dressed in a potato sack with smudged evening make-up and _still_, she'll look fantastic to him. Her long, reddish hair was cleaned and done in a smooth braid that settled on her right shoulder. Her hands were pale and almost delicate-looking on either side of her reclined body.

When a lump that rose in his throat threatened to choke him, Rei immediately straightened. All business-like as he checked the machines' calibrations that monitored everything from her brain activity to her heart rate. Satisfied that everything was in order, Rei took the stool sitting next to her bed and regarded her with a thoughtful, scrutinizing expression.

**Sitting in the dark, I can't forget.  
Even now, I realize the time I'll never get.**

_I'll never get it… if I don't take._ He realized. Giving in to the long pent-up impulse, he finally took her exquisitely long fingered hand into his. Rei felt a delicious current run though his being… And he welcomed the feeling.

"Feel free to kill me later for taking advantage of a helpless lady like... _yourself_..." He said with the devil's own mischievous smile that belied his inner turmoil. "But I have wanted to do that for the longest time now." He never had the chance in the past. "_No,_ he corrected himself. _I had all the time and the opportunity back then. But I never took the chance or helped myself with given the opportunity. The time had past and gone..._

He envied her stillness. Rei felt like he had been running... Running to no where in particular. And, honestly, he was tried. _And I have no plans whatsoever to repeat that mistake. _He decided.

The heart monitor beeped a discreetly though what should have been pause. One would think—her heart skipped a beat. His hand involuntarily tightened around hers—he was _no longer_ the sort of man who valued gut-feelings and other illogical, unscientifically founded notions, he reasoned!

...his hand tighten on hers.

But logical and practical reasoning did NOT shake off the sense of hope at the thought that she was responding to him... _somehow_. With that latter thought, he felt infinitely better… _happier_.

Smiling down at the sleeping beauty who never seemed to tire from invading his dreams, he whispered haughtily, "Oh, did your heart just skipped a beat there?" He teased, something he _never _allowed himself to openly admit— especially to _himself_. "Why, I guess, even the great Ran Kotobuki is _not_ immune to MY charms!"

Rei observed that a slight crease manifested on her brows. He grinned more prominently. "I see you can hear me, my pretty lady... Too bad, you cannot punch me for coming on to you like when we first met!"

His chuckling stopped abruptly when her lips slightly pursed at something she clearly did not like. The sight was too much for his poor _man's_ body. Giving in to the urge, he leaned over and pressed his own over her still ones.

"I—" He began in attempt to explain himself and-

**Another story of the bitter pills of fate…  
I can't go back again. I can't go back again...**

The young doctor squared his shoulders resolutely. _I refuse to go back to my long suffering silence! That "me" did dead!_ With that in mind, he said it _aloud_ to her.

"Honestly, I really do not know if you can hear me or I am merely imagining all these responses you're giving me, Ran. AS of the moment, I'm glad for this warped opportunity to tell you to your face things that I've never told anyone... You may laugh all you want, which... no doubt you would do if you were awake... but there's something about you that reassures me that I can tell you anything and although you may laugh... you will _never _ridicule what I said."

**But you **(never)** asked me to love you and I did **(but did not tell you)**.**

'That was foolish. It thought that was what she wanted. But no! I shouldn't have been cowardly for telling her I love her…every moment that I was with her.'

Some _how_... some _way_... she was listening. And so, "I love you. I always have."

**  
Traded my emotions for a contract to commit…**

"Back then," He began to explain. "I vehemently refused to allow emotions to rule me. It thought I could control it, by never saying or even acknowledging the fact. It worked very well… and now, I regret it even more so." Rei said. "I committed to silence, thinking that it would do me good... but..."

"I know that earlier declaration sounds very immaterial _right_ now... And maybe it is spineless of me to say that especially in the chance you—actuality, can_not _hear me. And I _must _tell you that I am simply comforting myself in the wishful thought that you _are_." Rei slowly became conscious of the fact that he was rambling…

"_Damn_." He cursed his uncharacteristic sheepishness—

**And when I got away, I only got so far.**

_The time had past and gone. And I have no plans whatsoever to _repeat _that mistake._

"In my silence—when I did not tell you what I felt... I was I thought I was home free when I did. I even went on and assumed that all _these _emotions would go away in time." Her face was calm and serene, whereas he was shaking like a leaf in a middle of a storm. "I was wrong. When I thought your memory would fade in time... The opposite happened. It was _you _who kept me going. You were... in way, my muse through medical school, Ran."

"Perhaps that's the reason why I chose this profession— in addition to my desire to help and save people, I also wanted to to change from being the callous, heartless and distant person I was. This was the profession I could do _both_."

Rei fixed his ice blue gaze on the hospital's complimentary vase of yellow roses and wisps of lavender that idled on her windowsill, and so, he did not see Ran's close lids flutter slightly. "I really worked hard, you know? To be where I am today. But I feel so damned because I am not _wholly_ the sort of person I wanted to be. In a way, I felt that I let _you _and _myself _down."

"Well, modesty aside, I realize that say I a quite good at what I do. You can vouch for that, eh? I _am _a fine doctor. But somehow that feat seems like nothing... because I couldn't be happy... I felt that everything was for naught. "

**The other me is dead.**

"But… believe it or not, my heart was not in it." The young doctor sighed morosely. "Sure. You may declare that I _never_ had a heart to begin with, as what you observed in the past with me…" Little by little he was astonished on how easily the words formed and slipped from his lips.

**  
I hear his voice inside my head...**

**

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**

…

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"_Damn you, Otohata!" She screamed at him, thinking that since he never seemed to listen—the _volume_ of her words would jolt him to listening-mode._

_She did not know that everything that came out of those inciting lips of hers—regardless if he gave the impression to be listening or not—by god, he not only heard her, but _listened_._

**We were never alive, and we won't be born again.**

_Rei kept his composure—something, after all these years of hiding, he had mastered to perfection—and faced her like a proud, impassive man condemned to face a firing squad._

_He looked at the girl (that filled a crevice of his existence) with such wrath and hatred for him. And then he said more to _himself_ than to her. "I am _already_ dammed, Kotobuki."_

**  
But I'll never survive with dead memories in my heart.**

_A puffy-eyed brunette buried her head to Ran's determinedly-set, battle-ready shoulder. Ran's eyes tendered as she hugged Aya tighter. But when she faced _him_—all those beautiful and beautifully pissed eyes held was the rage and fury of hell's fire. "From the look of you—seeing that you're still well and standing—_damnation_ must scarce this time of the year, huh?"_

**You **(never)** told me to love you **(but) **I did.**

_Rei had to smile at her, often _un_appreciated, wit. Ran could be slitting his throat from ear to hear and he'd _still_ smile, for he knew if she was passionate in whatever extreme cause she believed in—in this case, her protection of Aya's damnable 'feelings'—she was living her life, in a manner that she believe to the bottommost pit of her heart, mind and soul._

_Something, he always envied. Something, he helplessly fell for._

"_What are you smiling for?!" She spat, in a manner that only added a lovely shade of pink to her cheeks. "Are you smiling because you're happy? Are you happy because you're _enjoying_ this?!"_

**Tied my soul into a knot and got me to submit.**

_Ran has always been smart and clever—only that she prioritized things that THIS _society_ considered frivolous and unimportant. That is why they shunned her for what _she_ valued important. They called her names and labeled her less-than-flattering things because she stubbornly refused conform to _their_ norms and remained true to _herself_._

"_Are you happy, Rei? Are you happy that you have caused this affliction unto others??!"_

"'Affliction'_? That's a brainy word if I ever heard one. At least that… _thing_ has some good influence on you."_

_He was really appraising her patience with him. He recognized it to be a motivating factor to the wish that by pushing all her buttons, she would fly off the handle and start hurling him all the damaging questions—the very ones, he'd more than glad to answer with… the truth—the truth that he hidden for _so long_, and hidden _so well_._

"_And they say, you _barely_ graduated from junior high school, Kotobuki."_

_Kotobuki was, believe it or not, intelligent as that sniveling, spineless girl in her arms. That is why—she did _NOT_ ask those question(s) he so desperately wanted to answer. Oh yes, she's intelligent in the whole traditional sense of the word. She proved that when she graduated from high school with outwardly no effort at all._

_But the world would not simply accept that. They were so fixed with their label of her that they could not and _refused _to believe it to be even possible. That is why they chose to listen more to the rumor._

_The _hideous_ rumors started and spread by those who resented her. That she passed because of the effortless rendezvous she had with a male teacher. There was no truth in those rumors… it was just propelled by the insecure losers who hate the very thing Ran stands for._

_Rei smiled… but this time, it was a murderous smile. He would have simply loved to take all the throats that housed the voices of those who echoed that rumor and clench it to the point that no voice would ever come out of it… ever again._

_She hurled scathing accusation after scathing accusation at him. Accusation, _not_ questions. And he allowed himself to take it. She was merely trying to hurt _him_ for that dark-haired girl in her shielding embrace._

**And when I got away, I only got so far.**

_He would be truly heart_less_ to say that nothing Ran said hurt him. And so he decided to solve the problem at its root— She cannot hurt him if he had _no_ heart, right?_

_And heartless, he had become._

**The other me is dead.  
I hear his voice inside my head...**

**

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**

…

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Reality wiped out the smoky-light in his ice blue eyes cast by that reverie. "That's a _lie_. A lie, which I truly believed to be a fact… So, that what _you said_ would not matter… And injure _me_ as much." He voiced his justifications, after retelling her that incident one late summer afternoon in their third year in high school. Aya had sought protection in the redhead (who wasted no time confronting him) following he hurt the brunette for the umpteenth time. "Because, if that was truly true. Then, all this shitty things of this would have never gotten to me right?" Her hand tightened ever so faintly, as if trying to fuse some of her inestimable strength to him.

**We were never alive, and we won't be born again.  
But I'll never survive with dead memories in my heart.**

"It's frustrating, you know?" Rei was saying, his voice rising. If she was awake, she would surely show her surprise at his lost of control. But, even if her reaction would be dismal—as he _deemed_ that to be—he'd do it anyway. He had been holding it _in _for damnably so long. "That all you ever believed in was not as stable as you supposed. And you get to wonder—all those things you've exhausted yourself over, all the things you surrendered, you compromised, you went through hell for and back—what the fuck was it all for if it was NOT truly for that you '_believed in'_?!" He exclaimed, daring the answer to come.

Her heart monitor beeped steadily. _There_.

Ran lay before him, the dim light of her lampshade casting a lovely glow that only seemed to enhance the gold and fire-hue in her long braided hair. And then… it hit him… She was _his_ answer—she was the reason for _it_ all.

He saved her, did he or did he not? HE DID. With her hand in his, he rested his head next to their entwined hands on the small patch of her bed.

He felt great weight lift off his shoulders. Rei grinned unreservedly. She helped him wake from his living nightmare that he had been living in. It was a wondrous feeling. And she accomplished that by simply _show_ing him—in spite of her silence and immobility— that everything had been worth it.

The clefs of on either side of his face deepen attractively. On his mouth was a smile that has been devoid of the burden—his silence, the indifference he mastered, the act and fronts he put up—all that and more he lugged with him for all these years.

It was not too long when he fell asleep with a similar smile on his face. It was a _genuine_ smile—one of the many he was going to experience.

What dislodged him from his much-deserved, blissful sleep will only further shape his newly acquired smile...

Rei Otohata would never smile the same way again.

...

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**End of Chapter Two**

To be continued…

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Now Playing: _**Dead Memories**_** by Slipknot**

(AN: the complete and accurate lyrics)

_Sitting in the dark, I can't forget.  
Even now, I realize the time I'll never get.  
Another story of the bitter pills of fate…  
I can't go back again. I can't go back again...  
But you asked me to love you and I did.  
Traded my emotions for a contract to commit…  
And when I got away, I only got so far.  
The other me is dead.  
I hear his voice inside my head..._

_We were never alive, and we won't be born again.  
But I'll never survive with dead memories in my heart._

_You told me to love you and I did.  
Tied my soul into a knot and got me to submit.  
So when I got away, I only kept my scars.  
The other me is gone.  
Now I don't know where I belong..._

_We were never alive, and we won't be born again.  
But I'll never survive with dead memories in my heart._

_Dead visions in your name  
Dead fingers in my veins  
Dead memories in my heart._

…

Author's Note: Something short, something sweet and something that'll inflict utmost—happiness and hurt… Because it all boils down to whatever life deals us with… and how _you_ deal.

_**(1)**_ What was your favorite part? Your least favvy? What was the most striking line for you? I'd love hear whatever is on your mind. _**(2)**_ BTW (_b_y _t_he _w_ay), don't forget to leave your email addresses when reviewing! _**(3)**_ And do, check your emails, my dear reviewer(s)… You know how much I love interacting with you. ^^

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	3. My Savior

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**A GALS! Fan Fiction**

"**Emergency"**

**By Bloody Priestess**

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Summary: Find out what made the resident Mr. Cold and Heartless chose this rather NOBLE profession that's so UNlike him. Rei Otohata made a vow — he was to become a doctor and save lives. He did just that... when he saved the one most important to him...

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**Chapter Three**: My Savior

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_"_It's really not your fault, when no one cares to talk about it. Talk about it...  
I see love die way too many times when it deserves to be alive...  
I see you cry way too many times when you deserve to be alive... ALIVE..._"_

* * *

**I push my fingers into my eyes...  
It's the only thing that slowly stops the ache...**

Rei put his fingers to his face and rubbed his tired eyes. He was rubbing the disbelief away, he thought. For _this_. This has to be a trick played by fatigue.

_This is not happening. It can NOT be happening!!!_

**  
But it's made of all the things I have to take...**

But… this was supposed to be it! His disbelieving mind protested. This was supposed to my chance at redemption…

This was _all _that he ever hoped and dreamed for. With her Rei knew he could be happy. And _now_…

Fate was taking it all away, _again_.

**  
It never ends, it works its way inside...  
If the pain goes on...  
Aaaaaaaah!**

…

_She screamed his name. "Rei!"_

_God, oh god, that was the most wonderful sound in the world. Rei never permitted himself to openly admit so. Instead, he curtly laughed at her mischief. Belatedly, he realized that was his last chance...to at least, hear a siren's song... That is why... He halted, dropping his heavy suitcases next to his feet. Rei searched and saw her precariously leaning on the second floor railing, shouting at him from his location in the ground floor._

"_Stand where you are, you! REI!" _Ah yes, spoken with ringing authority like a true chief of police's daughter.

_Rei thought she looked stunning even in that drab white graduation toga that she wore over her (no question) fashionable graduation dress of jade-green with lime lace-trimmings. She looked stunning even if her long, fire-red locks escaped that what-_was_ an elegant coiffure and her strappy lime-green suede Mary Janes screamed that it has been worn from being ruthlessly ran-in. _

_He watched her dash through the crowded airport hallways in those ankle-breaking high-heels, God, he could just see her running though the streets of Shibuya to get _here_ before he boarded. His heart expanded like that green, small-hearted Dr. Seuss character._

**I've waited as my time's elapsed.  
Now, All I do is live with so much fate.**

_Rei noticed his body and behavior growing cool and aloof, as what was normal. However, recalling where he was and where he was going—he vanquished with thought. He may never get to see her again. Where he was going… was the biggest-ocean-in-the-world away. He may have the rest of his life to be cool and aloof— "This here," he thought as his eyes swept over her approaching figure and missed nothing, "is my last chance."_

"_I'm glad you could make it, Ran!" Rei said roguishly, "I was beginning to think what I was to do with _this_ extra ticket to Los Angeles. I'm taking you with me, don't you know?!"_

"_You sure picked the oddest time to grow a sense of humor, Otohata."_

"_Partially true." He allowed. "I've always had a sense of humor." Rei replied casually as you please. "Unfortunately, nobody seemed to be entertained with it—and so, they took that for heartless apathy. Moreover, haven't we moved on from the last name-addressing just now? What's all this waning for… hm, _Ran_?"_

_She would not face him. Her gaze was every where else but on _his face_._

"_You are doing _this_ to rile me, I _know_ it, Otohata." She finally said in a quiet, flat tone that contradicted whatever she 'stood' for—the ardor, straightforwardness and __**honesty**__… in a word, _Passion_ ._

Rile_. Instead of the _average_ word: anger. He smirked as he folded his arms over his black turtleneck clad torso. "Rile you, Kotobuki? Heaven forbid. That's the last thing I would want you to _remember_ me with."_

"_Don't mock me, I am not an idiot."_

"_I never said _that_." He made a half step forward to her but caught himself just in time. _In time _for_ what,_ exactly_?

_And then Rei realized… In time for what he has been long dreaded—to have the whole in his chest magically grow a heart and his mouth would spill forth with absurd poetry? _Stop that. That's enough of _your_ idiocy, Otohata.

"_But you treat me like one." Ran said, her eyes brilliant with something that suspiciously looked reminiscent of unshed tears._

"_Interpret things _your_ way, Ran… '_People can LOOK at the same thing but SEE differently_'. But, my conscience is clean—I _never_ treated you like an idiot." And he added silently and almost hesitantly, "I have a high regard for you more than you know."_

"_Clean?" Ran started to laugh bitterly. "I think not!"_

_She had heard him clearly. He knew it from the way her lovely eyes reflected her shock at his carefully-worded 'declaration'. But she was clearly and purposely ignored his words. And for that, Rei said in a low, dangerous tone. "Now, _you_ are doing this to rile _me_, Ran."_

_Stunning light-brown sepia eyes flashed intensely. "Stop twisting my own words against me, Otohata."_

"_That's more like it." Rei grinned like a little boy who had his fill of forbidden sweets and got away with it. "That's more like you." __And_ not like _that _sniffle-nosed crybaby_. He picked up his suitcase and started to turn away, undoubtedly satisfied with that lovely memory of her angry, flashing eyes to last him for the rest of his days._

_She dashed on ahead of him, blocked his path with her outstretched arms. "Stop!"_

_Rei noticed that those arms were deliberately distanced, quite impossible for them to touch him. And that diminutive observation irked the hell out of him. _Am I some plague that must be avoided at all costs?!? _"Why should I?" He began brusquely, masking the disappointment that ran deep into his soul. "Who's going to stop me? _You_, my dear Ran?"_

_His use of endearment caused her mouth to drop for a just a fraction. "I think not." Still reeling with the victory of rendering her in a loss for words, he added as he brushed past her, "_You_ cannot wait to get rid of me."_

"_Do not _ever_ put words in my mouth. I can speak for myself." She declared proudly._

**I've gotta say what I've gotta say.  
And then I swear I'll go away.**

"_No you can't." Rei accused miserably. Dropping his bags as stepped forward and almost violently seized her upper arms, "Not when you contain yourself—specifically, your feelings."_

"_What do _you_ know of feelings, Otohata?" Ran challenged, ignoring the unconscious tightening of his fingers on her upper arms, "when you failed to be even bothered of others'."_

"_If you're talking about that damn Aya's..."_

_Ran's head came down hard on his forehead. She would have punched him all the way to Mars to whence he came with that derogatory statement about Aya but he caged her arms. And so, the red-head had to make to do with that head-butt. "Don't you dare 'damn' her! She has done nothing wrong to you, Otohata! If anything else, she loves you so…"_

**But I can't promise you'll enjoy the noise.  
I guess I'll save the best for last.**

_Rei ignored the pain on his left temple where her head collided. His hands remained on her. "What about _you_, Ran? What about _your_ feelings? What about the feelings _you_ have for _me_?"_

_She was silent for a heartbeat or two and then she spoke. An uncharacteristic glacé in her eyes. "Do those things even exist, Rei?" She smiled bitterly. "How many times do I have to tell you never put words in my mouth?"_

"_A million times more, I'm afraid. Until you admit, the worth and importance of what's in your heart and never mind the rest of the world..."_

"_I don't believe that this _is_ love, Rei. Love is not supposed to be this selfish. This selfishness I—_no_, I am right the first time around… This cannot be love."_

"_But—"_

"_No, this is not love." She said stubbornly, "Love _cannot_ be like this— this selfishness... it just can't. I'm fighting it, because this cannot be _it_…"_

_Rei shrugged, knowing her stubbornness was unwavering. "Partially true." He allowed. "Our definition of things always varies. But, do you know what, Ran?" He incensed gave her a savage shake when her eyes strayed from his. "Won't you admit the fact that there _is_ something in you that is… just for me?"_

"_I don't believe that this _is_ love, Rei." She repeated in raw whisper, "This can _not_ be love."_

"_It must be an _unconscious slip of the tongue_, then." Rei concluded. Inwardly, very unsure if he was to be pleased or weary of this abstracted conversation but persisted anyway. The look in her eye told him that she was familiar with the Freudian concept. "You said _Love_. I did _not_ ask if you love me or anything like that, Ran. I merely asked if you would just come out of your shell… "_

_The fleeting look on her face told him that he "Oh," she said, "so, you were just fishing for information. You may think it's harmless to do so… After all, the disclosure of such information will not hurt _you_."_

"_You're wrong, it _will_ hurt me—if it is NOT the one I longed to hear. But it's a chance I am willing to take. Besides, I will only get listen to whatever you care to share with me."_

"_Oh," she mumbled in silent mockery, "and now, you shove the spotlight to me."_

"_The spotlight has always been on you, Ran."_

"_Don't patronize me, Rei." She stomped her foot in frustration like a little child. Yes, she did look like small child at the moment. Bewildered and quite overwhelmed with the whole new turn of this 'warped farewell'. But the Gods forgive him, Rei found her 'loss' as something to be happy—what he mean is, that he was happy that he was leaving her with a _resounding_ impression to remember him by. She continued, "You know that is not what I mean—"_

"_Then, tell me. Tell me what I am missing here."_

_Ran seemed to him was finding it difficult to speak what she chased after him to say._

"_Kotobuki," Rei sighed, releasing his manacle-like grip on her. "You disappoint me." She lifted her broken gaze at him and felt his resolve diminish slightly. Rei shook his head, as if to clear his mind. "All of the sudden, that what I admired for the most has gone and left you _too_."_

"_Too?" Ran suddenly had the urge to hurt him. Just as his understanding of her character and her thoughts scared her witless that every damning truthful word hurt and wrecked her self-esteem in her capability to control herself. _

_Rei was awfully surprised that she had 'control' issues as he did… but _her _reasons were self_less_ unlike his._

_She loved him too. He realized... but decided to give her the benifit of the doubt. It was the least he could do._

_He was suddenly ashamed of himself. Judging himself to be unworthy of _her_ for that trait of selfishness in him. He found the strength of will to lean over to pick up his luggage and head off to his boarding plane without telling her what he desperately wanted to tell her before he lost the nerve to seize the opportunity._

"I love you, Ran Kotobuki."

…

**My future seems like one big past.  
You're left with me 'cause you left me no choice.**

In reality, it _he _who was screaming _her _name…

Rei could not believe what was going on before his eyes. It was as if disbelief has detached his soul from his body. He was seeing all that is unfolding before him like an indifferent stranger safely behind the television set, behind the computer screen, behind some mystical veil where nothing could stir him.

There was a vivid sense of urgency in the room. People brushed past him as they entered the room, but none of their turbulent shouting of instruction and rapid movements held his awareness or attention. Rei was gently guided to a corner of the room by a sympathetic orderly.

Rei Otohata was numb! _No, I don't want to be numb. Dear God. I want to feel. Don't take this away too... HAVEN'T YOU TAKEN ENOUGH??!_

"Check her airway, breathing, and circulation—" Dr. Naoshiro Itoh, head of cardiology was taking charge. "Status!" he barked and the staff around him bolted efficiently to their tasks.

"—give her 2cc of—"

"She's going into shock!" Shock has been known as a life-threatening condition that occurs when the body is not getting enough blood flow.

Rei's eyes remained on Ran's body as it was ranked violent shaking… and then, abrupt stillness. The monitor started to screech warning beeping that indicated her vital signs were rapidly dropping… and then, ominously whining down to a flat note.

"Where's that blasted nurs—??!"

_Don't do this to me, Kotobuki… _Rei fell to his knees beside her bed, clutching her hand as if it was his only life line. Little did he know, she was clinging on to _him _too.

_Fight it, Kotobuki... Fight it. You fought the overwhelming odds all you life in the past, did you not? Just like when you fought your own feelings_ for me_. Fight this _too_. Do not teach me to be better then leave before I get the _real_ chance to be better... with _you_ by _my _side..._

_I know _now _how to be better!_ He pleaded desperately.

He did not realize he was _screaming _his words into her unhearing ears.

...

_It was like waking up to a dream—where all those things you wished to hold was within reach. _It is too late now._ And so, Rei reserved his arms at his sides, and his hands fisted to keep himself from reaching back to out to her. While a third of him screamed to be heard—by saying, treating her as such was all an act to keep her from _affecting_ him more than she already has—the two-third silenced the former—by saying:_ Whatever you say or do will never make her see what you _are_ _**really**_ about.

It's too late now.

"_Sir_, you cannot go in there. S—"

A handsome man with light brown hair and familiar light sepia brown eyes burst through the doors with an air of authority apparent not only in manner. His dark trench coat swirled around his body but in his pace and the set of his shoulders and jaw. He signaled to a young man in a police uniform to hold off the nurse as he continued down the hallway to Rei.

And yet, there was something _else_—to the man. Something akin to alarm and fear, that slowly became apparent on his normally forbearing face as he approached a slouched figure dressed in a doctor's white lab gown who sat on the floor with his against wall.

"What the hell are you doing _here_??! Where is my sister??!" Yamato Kotobuki demanded, violently seizing the lapels of Rei's white lab coat, forcing the young doctor from his defeated posture against the wall to his feet.

Rei could not tell him that... _Damn_.

**Put me back together**. Part of Rei despondent mind pleaded to any sympathizing soul who would pity him.**  
Or separate the skin from bone**. The other part taunted. After all, Dr. Itoh and his team kicked Rei out of her room soon after that scene he created.

The dazed expression left Rei's face as he met Yamato's incensed ones. The same eyes... _she_ had.

"What happened, Otohata?!!"

Normally, Ran's older brother was more cordial to him. But given the reality that his sister was… his sister was… _damn._ He could not even acknowledge it himself.

His _doctor_'s impassive tone returned. It was dispassionate, aloof and self-possessed. There was a degree of comfort by using that tone, it was familiar territory. Rei had given a 'talk' like this before—somehow the doctor was thinking _this _was similar to those past times, where the situation did not involve people he cared so much for.

"I'm sorry Mr. Kotobuki but it was beyond any further treatment with medicine. You see, the immune system responds to protect the body from harmful substances. Foreign substances called _antigens_ cause many immune responses. They trigger the production of proteins, called antibodies, which attach to antigens and destroy these antigens. They also trigger a type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, which recognize a certain antigen and destroy it."

"Cut the medical bullshit. What are you leading up to, dammit?"

"A problem had occurred, sir," Rei began, impassive and detached _unlike _ever before in his career as a medical practitioner. "…and then, when the donor's blood was inferred as an antigen by the patient's immune system."

Ran's light brown haired brother slowly comprehended where this was all leading to. "Are you trying to say that—" Yamato pitilessly shoved Rei away.

"Yes, Inspector Kotobuki." The doctor ignored shooting of pain on his shoulder.

Yamato abruptly, shoved Rei away from him. The violent outburst did not stop there. Yamato found cause to drive a fist on the wall behind Rei.

"The patient's body rejected and tried to attack and destroy parts of the new blood. _She fought the new blood that she was given._"

Yamato's jaw clenched and unclenched dangerously.

Now, all Rei wanted to do was shift the dilemma to someone else—he wanted to say that the small amount of donor blood should have been mixed with a small amount of patient blood. _Careful blood screening can lower the risk of these types of problems. The mixture is checked under a microscope for signs of antibody reaction. But that apparently did NOT happen!_

_Of course, it was not possible to do that! Ran was already on her way and the units donated blood was already on their way from the store room to the OR. _

Rei thought about the drugs called _corticosteroids_ such as _prednisone_ or _dexamethasone_ that reduce the immune response. Such fluids were given to the patient through a vein and there were other medications may be used to treat or prevent shock. Given what was happening before him, what obviously was not given to the patient!

Of course, some doctor forgot to do that… Apparently, it became _his_ task to check. _Dammit… THIS ENTIRE EVENT MOST PROBABLY HAVE BEEN MY FAULT!_

Rei sank back down on the floor with his legs folded close to his body, his hand viciously and miserably began clutching handful of his dark hair.

**Leave me all the pieces,  
Then you can leave me alone.**

Yamato watched the young doctor with great concern. Here was a man who loved his sister dearly... His clenched jaw relaxed a tad bit.

_Of course, even receiving the correct blood type can result in a mild transfusion reaction. _Rei recalled his long-ago lesson. _Mild transfusion reaction causes fever, hives, and shortness of breath, pain, rapid heart rate, chills, and low blood pressure. While a mild transfusion reaction is frightening, it is rarely life-threatening when treated quickly._

Rei recalled the little changes in her heart rate as he blabbed on about his life and how much he cared—no, _love_ her. All that time… DAMN! Moisture glisten the corners of his ice blue eyes. What kind of doctor was he?! He should have been more vigilant.

He was so caught up with his _happy_ realizations that, he being so hard on himself that he slackened!

_My fault. My… Mine, all mine!_

…

**  
Tell me the reality is better than the dream.**

_"Don't do this to me, Kotobuki…"_

He had said.

God in heaven, he would cut out his worthless right arm to take whose words back.

_"Fight it, Kotobuki... Fight it."_

He had told her on his knees.

And she listened. She did fight. She fought the "help" that was given to her. She fought _all the way_.

**But I found out the hard way.**

What I learned? GOD! WHAT A WAY TO TEACH ME!

And he had the "selfless" Ran Kotobuki to _truly _thank for that lesson.

Rei dropped the bouquet of flowers on the marked stone sticking out of the grassy ground and left for the hospital. _Ironic, for I thought I was beyond any redemption... But you changed that, ... _Dr. Rei Otohata bore in mind... The person he is and the girl who made it possible. _My savior._

**Nothing is what it seems!**

Rei made a vow—he was to become a doctor and save lives.

He did just that... when he saved the one he cares for the most…

_Himself_.

...

A teardrop…

…a mere drop of water cascading down your cheeks.

…an infinitesimal particle composed mainly of water.

And yet, it concludes an entire story.

...

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_**Fin**_

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Now Playing: _**Duality**_** by Slipknot**

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Author's Note: This _is_ the part where I woke up. All things must come to an _**end**_, I guess.

You know what? I don't want it to just yet. But until the plot bunnies bite... _c'est __**fin**__._

_..._


	4. Here

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**A GALS! Fan Fiction**

"**Emergency"**

**By Bloody Priestess**

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Summary: Rei Otohata made a vow— he was to become a doctor and save lives. He did just that... when he saved the one he cares for the most.

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Disclaimer: I do not own GALS! _Duh_.

Author's Notes: I love writing in analogies. Watch for it.

I really thought this chapter had ended in chapter three. But no. and so, here is—

...

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**Chapter Four**: Here

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"…do not be unhappy if all your dreams do not come true.

Be thankful your nightmares don't."

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_Earlier. 4:38 p.m., downtown Tokyo._

Bullets flew overhead.

A gang of bank robbers were surrounded within minutes by the police force as they were attempting to escape. Three get-away cars were idle and bullet-ridden on the curb by glass front doors of the Tokyo Financial Bank.

In the driver seat of one of cars, a villain lay unmoving slumped against the dashboard with a gun on his hand. Two more villains lay, staining the usually-busy-streets with crimson blood from gunshot wounds. The remaining 7 bank robbers were holding off the lawmen with their heavy assault weapons.

The police force outnumbered the bank robbers 5 to 2. The first to arrive were Tokyo Precinct 2 officers, where Ran Kotobuki was stationed. Ran and other officers were already returning fire to the hostiles (a.k.a the robbers) for the last ten minutes when the other officers from Precinct 1 and 4, then by the _Special Assault Team_ (AN: Japanese variety of SWAT. Let's just call them 'SWAT' to be consistent to the internationally-known term) arrived.

Ran moved with seemingly effortless agility to the rear of the police vehicle and took cover. Another woman officer who was already there, the pair ducked down just as bullets implanted on the police car's metal structure. Ran acknowledged her comrade while fluidly reloading M16 rifle on her hand. The redhead heftily propped the assault weapon on her knee while the other waved in a practiced movement directing a handful of men to move forward.

The SWAT lieutenant recognized expertise in her, despite that she was just a lowly precinct officer and he, a seasoned operative. He thought her to be "good" because she was her parents' daughter. Whether she was skilled in her _own_ _right_, he doesn't know. But he was willing to stake his life and the lives of his men because she _is_ the Police Chief's daughter.

He nodded at her. Almost immediately, Ran Kotobuki and the female policeman open fired at the bank robbers, proving cover for the SWAT team to move swiftly to the next covered position much closer to the bank robbers. The unit moved as one, the lieutenant taking three SWAT personnel in Kevlar (bulletproof vest) with him.

To an untrained eye, there was a flurry of movements—there was "merely" robbers shooting at the police men, and police men shooting at robbers. But there was really strategies being employed in every alternating open-firing and every move forward.

Even the bad elements utilized these strategies—Ran saw a young boy about eight years old with dark hair being yanked out from the banks interior and held at gunpoint for everyone to see.

"Hostage!" Some woman screamed from the sidelines.

"Stay where you are, coppers! Or the kid gets a bullet to the head!" And then, he waved to his comrades. "Get the damn money, fools!"

"_Eagle eyes_. Eagle eyes." The police radio crackled somewhere. 'Eagle eyes' was the code for snipers. Ran eyes briefly flickered up to the rooftops. Sure enough there was a sniper unit perched there. "How is view? Can good enough to fly one in?"

"Negative, Osu. Negative." The next line was code, "Not until the weather clears up, repeat."

Another officer clutched the radio pinned to his chest and radioed his home base. "We have a hostage situation now, sir. Require permission to…"

…_take down the hostile fraction_. She finished for felt her blood run cold with alarm then solidify into hard resolve. She was too far away to see the dark haired boy's eyes but she could imagine they would be ice blue. It was the manner that the boy carried himself. There was a proud bearing and almost aloof air that he carried that made Ran immediately associated with someone she once knew who had ice blue eyes.

The connection did not fully register, because of all the years of painstaking repression. At the moment all she thought was… _Not at the cost of an innocent!_

The bank robber moved closer to the idle vehicle with the boy in tow like a human shield. His comrades followed suit with sacks filled will money.

The SWAT lieutenant brought his closely fisted right hand up, signaling: HALT.

The police force ceased fire. The robbers seized the opportunity and fired their weapons like mad. The rest took cover.

_Dammit!_ The redhead dropped her rifle and pulled her Glock pistol from her holster. She slid back chamber lock and primed the weapon.

Ran crouched, and moved in, ignoring the protest of the other female officers. Using the idle cars and other view-obstructing objects like the garbage bins and side of darkly-lit alley, she advanced unnoticed.

She was only a few feet away when a discerning robber followed the line of sight of the SWAT lieutenant on Ran's crouched figure. He immediately drew his gun, aiming for the redhead.

"Kotobuki!"

A single yet significant rapport rang out, startling the redhead. Ran hit the ground.

"Serves you right you foolish hero wanna-be. That's what you get for being so noble!" The hostage taker sneered.

But then… So did the would-be killer standing some yards away from Ran. He was gunned down by that lieutenant and his team.

Ran, actually unhurt, rolled fluidly to her stomach and fired simultaneously at the hostage taker. Her first premeditated shot caught him on his right wrist—the impact caused his right hand to fling backwards and release the gun trained on the kid. Her second premeditated shot caught him on the right shoulder— which he clutched with his left hand, thusly releasing the kid.

As the rest of the robbers saw their latest comrade fall, they resumed their firing. Chaos ensued once again.

Headless to the dangers around them, boy rushed to kneel at Ran's side on the hard ground. "Are you OK, officer? Where were you hit?"

Ran answered him by pulling him down on his belly. She selflessly threw her arm over him as she did a quick survey of her surroundings.

Behind her, the police force tightened the blockade around the parameter and raised their rifles as they renewed their assault on the robbers. Within a few more seconds, another bleeding robber crumpled to the ground.

One robber extracted a hand grenade and tossed towards the cluster of police officers behind a news van. The explosion shook the ground, and sent debris flying.

_I must get this kid safety._

She drew him to closely her side, using her body as a shield. They ran to the far end of the area where a SWAT van was parked. "You sound like a doctor." Ran smiled, urging him to match his pace to hers. "Don't worry, I'm fine. That earlier was something to trick that baddie. A ruse."

Some robbers managed to pop to a get-away car. As one villain virtually forced the engine to choking start, the two others leaped into it as the vehicle swerved in a hazardous, drunk-like curve.

"A ruse?" He looked at her with incredibly pale blue eyes.

_Those eyes…_

The car was swerved again, rubber tires screeching. It plowed its way through obstructing policemen, sending officers to jump out of its way…

Ran propelled the boy to a running start. "Run, Rei!" Ran shouted at the kid. "RUN!"

She stood up, barring the fleeing boy from the unfriendlies' line of sight. And then, she began firing at the approaching twisted piece of metal on wheels, aiming for the driver while keeping the other occupants from returning fire.

Although every other available police force were following suit—still, the getaway-car was impudently swelling towards them. The Glock in her hand clicked hollowly. _Empty_.

The dark head boy ran for shelter to the beckoning SWAT officers to their far right—he was still a few feet away from safety.

Ran swiftly assessed the situation in rapid succession. _The car now only two yards away. There is not enough time to reload that Glock. Without my final defense, I cannot protect him… he's not going to make it._

No.

Ran leaped, and threw herself onto the car.

_This is my true FINAL defense. Machines fail you… resources always run out. But — my body, my spirit, my sanity, my soul, my life— is all what I really _have_ to battle with in this existence…_

She held on by extending her arms to grip the opposite sides of the car's windshield. As she intended the driver could not see where he was going.

The driver seethed at his passengers. "Shoot, dammit!" He threw a sidelong glance to man on the passenger seat. "Blast the dumb broad!"

"Still reloading, boss."

"Kinbari?" the driver roll-called.

"Kinbari is unconscious, boss. Bleeding himself dry."

"Mikia?"

"Gone." Someone sobbed almost unintelligibly.

"Miserable crybaby! What about you, Erie?"

"No more ammunition."

"Must I do everything myself? Unreliable prats!" the boss said, alternately stomping on the brakes and accelerator before swerving the car sharply to the left, right, left and right again. But Ran remained steadfast.

"Ready, boss."

"What are you waiting for, Kikatue? _A formal invitation_? Shoot her _now_!"

Kikatue fired, mindlessly. He merely reacted to the echo of the boss' booming voice. The glass cracked, forming a heartbreaking little spider web. Ran contributed to the warped little artwork—with a trace of her blood the seeped from her side where the bullet buried on her.

She slid off and collided with the pavement for real this time. The car's wheel missed her motionless body by mere inches.

Right before darkness claimed her, Ran Kotobuki's last thought was of how right she said was when she said—

_This is my true FINAL defense._

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They said.

_Before you die — you whole life flashes before your eyes_.

Perhaps there was some truth in people's reports of the last minutes of life.

After all… wasn't all this? All this that is happening to her the exact same thing they've reported?

Ran was a little girl—she judged herself to be four or so. _Funny, I should remember that—given that I still SO young. Weren't children supposed to forget very early childhood memories?_

What was she doing here again?

_Oh yes_… _I remember now!_ Yamato was holding her hand— they were in Tokyo Medical's nursery to see her new sibling.

She could hear her own little four-year old thoughts as looked on. _What did grandma say? Her name is Sayo_.

There was a shift. And now, Ran saw her parents peering down a tiny bundle. She and Yamato were standing side by side, hand in hand at the threshold of Sayo's nursery. They looked and felt quite forgotten in that instance.

Ran could not understand why her "little girl" mind was so devoid of any thoughts and emotions. Watching herself, she wanted to shake herself—willing that suddenly-detached little girl to _feel _something. _Say _something… _Do _something… _anything_ but to continue looking on the scene with such expressionless eyes.

She suddenly wanted to weep in shame. _Was I _this_ jealous of Sayo? That little innocent bundle that I love so much? Why couldn't I be more mature? Be mature and see that the world worked in such as way— that nothing you want can be yours without doing something to attain it._

Ran straightened her spine, although her heart sank. This was when her childhood ended. This was when she became "mature" and learned an important life lesson… But it will not be until _this very moment_ that she realized the full potency of that learning experience from long ago.

Ran watched nine-year old Yamato shied his hand from hers and move away from the scene …and her. Once again, she could hear her own little four-year old self's voice—

_Where are you going, Yamato?_

There was a shift. And now, Ran saw twelve year old Yamato receive an award in a commencement rite in his final year of elementary school. She could hear her own little four-year old self's thoughts—

_So, this is why you read books instead of playing with me?_

Ran paused, and swallowed a huge lump in her throat. It was only in this very moment that she realized— Yamato read to escape. To forget that he has been topped as the apple of his parent's eye not only once, but twice by two little sisters. And because of reading, he excelled in matters that matter (e.g. School work, athletic games). Thus, attaining his hearts desire—to be noticed by his parents again.

Ran watched her eight year old self dressed in a pretty pristine white, lace Sunday dress for the occasion. She could hear her own little four-year old self's thoughts—

_You're noticed now, Yamato. That leaves me… What do I need to do?_

There was a shift. And now, Ran saw herself as a fourteen year old— declaring to the world that she was to be a great detective and policeman like her father.

Ran dug her fingernails to the palm of her hand. She knew what would come next-

She was not mistaken… Ran saw herself escaping her father and _his_ dreams (they were "his" now, because she did not want anything to do with them anymore), in the same way she strolled down the Shibuya in that blood-red coat.

It was only in this very moment that she realized—

I was looking for the person I was meant to become. In the end, my desire to help overwhelmed my childish, selfish desire to be and remain the No. 1 Ko-gal. Because deep down inside, despite the injustices of my life— it was all to become the person I was meant to be.

Another shift.

Ran stood behind Rei Otohata as he bent over her still body. _I really am dead_.

He was speaking to her. Saying the most astonishing things. She heard everything. Ran could not explain or understand what was happening but… she could hear his thoughts.

And what thoughts he had! If only he could have done something that she would not misinterpret as platonic love. If only he said them sooner… If only he could have said them aloud… to her hearing ears. If only she asked if he felt the same thing she felt for him.

If she was awake to tell him so. Oh what a sad scene. Here she was, some disembodied soul watching him confront the possibility of losing her.

And then his avowal, "I love you, Ran Kotobuki."

Ran felt a constriction in her throat. He had lost her… and the both of them were to blame. Time and opportunity passed. Both of them were so young— still so certain that fate would scheme to bring them together. Neither of them reached out for one another—they simply moved on with their lives, willing the vision to be someday together to come into fruition.

They had forgotten that old Japanese proverb that warned—_ 'V__ision without action is a__ daydream'_.

Oh heavens, they were oblivious to fact that they could have something more than a shared past… if they did something to help fate along. Ran realized, they lacked action.

Another shift. She stood beside her body as they doctors fought to bring her back—behind the glass wall partition was Rei wretchedly sitting on the cold floor. He had his back on the wall, his legs drawn close to his body and his dark head on his folded arms over his knees. She about walk away from the sight of the medical personnel's vain effort when Yamato burst in.

_Yamato_. Ran was reminded of her family. The life she lived…

And the life she could live… if she dared _to live_.

_Don't do this to me, Kotobuki… __Rei fell to his knees beside her bed, clutching her hand as if it was his only life line. Little did he know, she was clinging on to __him __too._

_Fight it, Kotobuki... Fight it. You fought the overwhelming odds all you life in the past, did you not? Just like when you fought your own feelings__ for me__. Fight this __too__. Do not teach me to be better then leave before I get the __real__ chance to be better... with __you__ by __my __side._

_I know __now __how to be better!_

Ran felt her heart lurch. And her eyes snapped to the electrocardiogram, and saw the flat line leap to a sharp wave. But in matter of seconds, the wave flattened again.

"Leave her be," one of the doctor said to his companions. "She must have had it with this life."

"Poor child, she had given up."

"Let her rest."

Dr. Itoh was solemn, "Rei would be devastated. He loves her."

There was a sting in her eyes, just before tears began rolling down her cheeks. Gods, they was right.

_It was like waking up to a dream—where all those things you wished to hold was within reach. __It is too late now.__ And so, Rei reserved his arms at his sides, and his hands fisted to keep himself from reaching back to out to her._

And the flat line remained flat for a few seconds more.

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Rei Otohata felt his wife's soft touch on his shoulder. Wordlessly, he covered her hand with his own and squeezed it tight.

"Love?"

He ice-blue eyes remained on the tombstone on the ground.

She understood his silences. With free arm she curved it over his still-trim torso from behind. She offered her warmth to fight off the cold that seeped from the depths of his soul. "Love, I am here. Still here… Will always be here."

Rei broke away from her embrace. Only to turn and fiercely pull his wife into his arms.

"I love you." He whispered almost too reverently. "But most especially when you lifted your eyes to mine, and never looked away even as I said one of the cheesiest line in the history of modern courtship…"

His wife chuckled lightly against his chest. She, too, was in the same moment, reliving it with him.

Months ago, neither of them would have been found laughing. He had just come out of the worst ordeal of his professional and personal life. And she had been waiting for someone like the man she lost to come back in to her life.

Rei recalled his part of the story… Dr. Itoh just stepped out the room. Yamato picked up the closest thing—a metal tray and hurled it against the glass window of Ran's room. As shattered glass detached itself from the frame and crashed unto the floor—Rei could not help but think no effort could undo the damage and destruction.

Ran was not yet cold and the lesson she taught him was already slipping. Rei controlled the violent urge to sever the body part that housed that cynical thought. _Rest assured, Ran… _He vowed with a burning intensity. _I will never forget._

One by one medical personnel exited Ran's room. No one could look him in the eye. They knew the depth of his feelings for her— Had he not clearly demonstrated that a few minutes ago?

Rei saw Ran—deathly still through the destroyed partition. He wanted to see her for himself.

"Otohata!" Dr. Itoh shouted after Rei. "Wait, son—"

Rei ignored him and retook his seat beside her bed. In the denial, chaos and disbelief—he did not immediately realized that she laboriously opened her eyes at him.

_I'll never get it… if I don't take._ He realized. Giving in to the long pent-up impulse, he finally took her exquisitely long fingered hand into his. Her pulse was a steady thud, and then Rei felt a current run though his being…

He wasted no time. "Ran Kotobuki, I love you."

"I heard you the first time, Rei."

"Wh—? You were here… all along?"

She gingerly nodded her head._ "Love, I am here. Still here… Will always be here_."

Rei adverted his eyes from the tombstone depicting the mortality of all life. As he stood in his is mentor, and dear friend, Naoshiro Itoh graveside— Otohata fiercely focused on life and living. Itoh would have wished it that way.

"Did you hear me, Love?" She asked again.

His wife was indeed warm. She, indeed, dispelled the cold in his soul. With arms tightening around her body. "Yes, Ran. I heard you the first time."

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_**Fin**_

(Really, this is _it_.)

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…

Author's Note: Finally! A completed story! This is a milestone right here! Whoa! I'm so happy. And, very thankful for all your responses (activating the _reviews, story alerts_, _favvy stor_y, and so on)! If there's any errors do tell me, I'll see to it immediately!

Why THIS end instead? Because I'm a hopeless romantic. :3

Thank you for everything. You're the bees' knees.

I wish you all the very best. _Ciao_. ;)


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